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Blue Crabs this weekend

I'm thinking about getting into some blue crabs these this weekend. I've cooked crabs many times before and know Old bay and Beer is traditional. Does anybody do something else interesting to do with them? The crabs were very snappy. I guess the males are more desirable than females (some things never change LOL). Does anybody know how to tell them males from the females? Something to do with their rear flipper-feet?

Growing up in San Francisco, I used to drop into the Chinese district for some meals. They have this dish with whole crabs and ginger and bok choy (oyster sauce depending on the place). If you find the right place, it is quite awesome.
Something like this.

Might wanna try it for the kicks if you are leaning toward the Asian persuasion for the night.

For males and females, you look at the underside. There's that piece of white shell running up the middle that's used as a "pull-tab." If it's long and thin, it's a male. If it's more of a triangular shape, it's a female. (Here in the DC area, it's Washington Monument for male, Capitol Building for females.)

Enjoy! Blue crabs are my favorite food! Love to sit around with family and/or friends and eat them for hours, along with some good beer! And fresh corn on the cob is great, too!

Also, if you get one with soft shell or a baby crab you can try the soft shell crab Tempura.
If you get a crab that hasn't auto-digested and is full of meat, these soft shell crab tempuras are absolutely delicious.

I'm thinking about getting into some blue crabs these this weekend. I've cooked crabs many times before and know Old bay and Beer is traditional. Does anybody do something else interesting to do with them? The crabs were very snappy. I guess the males are more desirable than females (some things never change LOL). Does anybody know how to tell them males from the females? Something to do with their rear flipper-feet?

Look at the undercarriage. If the undercarriage flap is wide, it's a female; (eggs are held under the wide flap). If it's narrow, it's a male.

I don't know about the males being preferable. I know a lot of Asian cultures prefer the females because of the eggs.

I've done them plain in heavily salted water, and sometimes include a sheet of konbu in it. I've also done them New Orleans style using a mixture of liquid crab/crawfish boil and dry, with added lemons, onions, cloves of garlic, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe because I've always done it to taste depending on the amount of water. But, I recommend Zatarain's concentrated crab boil - it's a good starting point.

Yea I'm probably overthinking the issue. Trying to engineer a better mouse trap. I always have to things the hard way. Do the Chinese/japanese eat Crabs? I bet there's a Vietnimese recipe out there/

Whats the deal with fried Hard-Crab. I'm originally from Boston and thats a new one to me? Is it just like frying chicken?

Chinese and Japanese people both prize crabs. Shanghai Hairy Crabs are considered a delicacy by the Chinese; Japanese prize snow crabs, but eat all different species of crabs, including King crabs.

If you go to any good Chinese seafood restaurant, you'll see a variety of crabs ranging from King crabs, Spider crabs, Ghost crabs, Dungeness crabs, etc.

The fried hard crab technique that I'm familiar with is a Chinese technique where a live crab is chopped up, lightly battered or floured, and par-fried. It's then wok fried with aromatics.

A very famous Vietnamese crab dish here in California is the garlic butter crab served by Thanh Long (SF) and Crustacean (various locations). The recipe is a secret, but you should be able to find variations of it.